"Project Nim" to Open 20th Florida Film Festival; 21 World Premieres Set

21 World Premieres, 4 North American Premieres, 7 U.S.Premieres, and 39 East Coast Premieres are on tap for the 20th anniversary of the Florida Film Festival, taking place in Orlando. FFF's full roster includes 160 films from 25 countries, with Oscar-winning director James Marsh's latest, "Project Nim" opening the event April 8 at the Enzian Theater.

21 World Premieres, 4 North American Premieres, 7 U.S.Premieres, and 39 East Coast Premieres are on tap for the 20th anniversary of the Florida Film Festival, taking place in Orlando. FFF's full roster includes 160 films from 25 countries, with Oscar-winning director James Marsh's latest, "Project Nim" opening the event April 8 at the Enzian Theater.

The documentary tells the tale of a chimp taken from its mother and raised as a human in an upper west side brownstone in 1970s New York.

"We're excited to launch our 20th edition of the Festival with this sensational documentary," commented Henry Maldonado, President of Enzian and the festival in a statement. "We opened the first Florida Film Festival with the documentary, 'A Brief History of Time,' and it's meaningful for us salute that moment 20 years later."

"The incredible scope of cinematic expression in this year's Festival is found not simply in terms of the volume of submissions or its demographics but in the variety of types of filmmakers and the issues they explore," added Matthew Curtis, Florida Film Festival Programming Director in a statement. "This year we are screening films that embody risk-taking, diversity, and aesthetic innovation, and we are hopeful that audiences will find them as engaging and entertaining as we did."

The 2011 Florida Film Festival takes place April 8 - 17.

The Narrative and Documentary competitions follow with information provided by the Florida Film Festival.